Vessel of Worlds

The sword-browed youth's proposal, whatever private motive it carried, was perfectly reasonable, and Andy smiled slightly, offering no objection, letting him continue.

"The simplest split would be our three Taiyi cultivators on one path and you two on the other. But then, if the treasure lies along only one path, matters get awkward. If we three find it, we would naturally share a portion with you. But if you two find it—who's to say you wouldn't keep the whole for yourselves?"

Andy laughed coldly in his heart at that. As if this man would ever share a treasure with the two of them out of kindness.

Qianqian's brow tightened, and she was about to object—but her Song surnamed senior sister spoke first: "True. I share that concern."

"Heh—who wouldn't? Truth be told, this humble girl worries just the same that Fellow Cultivator Fang might find the treasure and forget our acquaintance entirely," Hongchen said lightly, smiling behind her hand.

Qianqian sighed softly and swallowed her protest.

The sword-browed youth went on: "Since neither side trusts the other, the only cure is a different split. So: Fellow Cultivator Zhao and I take one path; you three ladies take the other. Then whichever party finds the treasure, both sides are represented."

It sounded fair—but this youth volunteering to pair with Andy carried motives anything but pure.

Andy only laughed aloud. "An excellent method! Brother Fang is clever indeed—as you say, then. Which passage shall we take, Brother Fang?"

The sword-browed youth blinked at how readily Andy agreed, then said: "One's as good as the other—the left, then. Brother Zhao—after you!" And under the cover of his green jade shield, he strode first into the left-hand passage.

"Fifth Brother, be careful—that man means you ill!" Hongchen transmitted.

Beyond Hongchen, the girl Qianqian too sent him a look of concern and worry.

Andy smiled, nodded to them all, and took out a pair of red orbs, handing one to Hongchen. "A paired artifact I came by once—within a hundred kilometers each senses the other. If you three meet danger, crush the orb at once, and through its twin I'll know your situation. Take care, all of you." With that, he and the Ice-Wind Python slipped into the left passage.

Shortly after, the three young women entered the right.

Andy held his distance from the Taiyi youth ahead at a steady twenty-odd zhang: when the man slowed, Andy slowed; when he darted forward, Andy quickened to match. At that spacing, no ambush could catch him unaware—and should treasure appear, he could close instantly and deny the man sole possession.

The Taiyi youth tested him several times, fast then slow, found Andy always pinned to that neither-near-nor-far interval, and gave up the game.

At such range, spiritual sense commanded every fine movement; any trick or trap he laid would be seen the instant it was set, and be useless.

Locked in that silent stalemate, the passage bored deeper and deeper. The cold thickened, condensing into threads of white vapor that gradually filled the tunnel.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Andy needed no prompting from the python—his own sense told him plainly: step by step, they were approaching a cavern of profound cold.

His Yellow Heaven Thick Earth Talisman could no longer hold back the plunging temperature. He layered on several barriers of fire-attribute spiritual power, and beneath them all, innermost, a thin veil of purple qi.

The Taiyi youth, who had been fending off the cold with his jade shield's glow alone, pasted on a fire-attribute defensive talisman; dazzling red light wrapped him, and the cold touched him no more.

A Fire Yang Talisman! Andy recognized it at once—an expensive Foundation Establishment talisman that raised the formidable Fire Yang Barrier. Against ice and cold attacks its defense exceeded even the Yellow Heaven Thick Earth Talisman—the ideal choice here. The man's purse, clearly, was deep.

Andy had never crafted that variety himself; to keep his success rate up he had confined himself to a single offensive and a single defensive Foundation Establishment talisman.

The two walked on a while longer and at last emerged into an underground spring-cavern several hundred zhang across.

By the moonlight stones' glow, they saw a stretch of clear water a hundred-odd zhang wide, burbling without pause—fist-sized bubbles rising and bursting, ribbons of white cold streaming up from them. Beyond the piercing chill, Andy caught a faint, elusive fragrance on the air.

"A Cold Fragrance Spring! Ha ha—found it! Truly found it!" The Taiyi youth laughed aloud, exultant.

By tradition, Nine Colds Mystic Nether Water often formed near Cold Fragrance Springs—find the spring, and the treasure was likely close. And even failing that, the spring's own water was an excellent ice-attribute spirit liquid, though far weaker than Nine Colds Mystic Nether Water for the assault on Core Formation.

The Ice-Wind Python was equally thrilled—without waiting for Andy's command it plunged straight into the spring and went coursing through it.

But Andy's gaze, and the Taiyi youth's, fastened swiftly on a stalactite hanging from the cavern roof a dozen zhang beyond the spring.

Most of the white cold rising off the spring gathered at the cavern's ceiling and did not disperse. And from that gathering, down the hanging stalactite, a liquid of the deepest color was falling—drop by drop—into a small basin a few cun across, where the dark fluid pooled, breathing out a fragrance far more intense.

In color and scent alike, it matched the texts' descriptions of Nine Colds Mystic Nether Water exactly.

The sword-browed Taiyi youth made no move toward the liquid. Instead he turned, slowly, and fixed Andy with a wintry stare.

Andy returned the look with equal meaning. The two stood locked eye to eye.

"Must you truly do this, Brother Fang? There's liquid enough here for all five of us to share. In your place, I'd hardly gamble my life against a peak late-stage cultivator of equal strength," Andy said with a light sigh, his voice flat.

"True—against your cultivation, I ought not risk it," the sword-browed youth agreed, nodding. "But I have already conceived the intent to kill you. And the technique I practice honors the heart's true impulse. To strangle a killing intent once born would cost me more than it spared."

"Ah—many Daoist methods do share that trait. Yet when did I ever offend you, Brother Fang? You know that Fairy Qianqian and I are the merest of acquaintances—one meeting, decades ago."

"The merest of acquaintances?" The youth's voice hardened word by word. "That junior sister of mine wears frost for a face—never a kind look for any brother of the sect. When she isn't cultivating, she spends her days with that dying old man He. Yet for you she is all warmth! Is that mere chance-met courtesy?" His anger climbed as he spoke. "Heh—even so, I might have let you pass, Brother Zhao. But that serene, confident smile of yours—I cannot stomach it. If I don't kill you, I fear the rage will fester into an inner demon!"

Andy gave a cold snort and said nothing. Left to his own preference, he wanted no clash with this Taiyi youth—disciple of a great sect, student of a Core Formation master; neither was a thing Andy cared to provoke. But as matters now stood, there was no avoiding it.

"Make your move, then. Show me the bearing of a Taiyi Sect cultivator." Andy said it smiling, in a tone of warm solicitude—precisely the tone he used when tutoring his disciple Shi Shuo in the arts.

It landed as intended. The sword-browed youth roared "Die!"—his right hand rose, and a green jade saber several cun long flew out, carving an arc of green light straight at Andy.